... to spread the cement of brotherly love and affection, that cement
which unites us into one sacred band or society of brothers, among whom no
contention should ever exist, but that noble emulation of who can best
work or best agree ...

Masonic quotes by Brothers

ANCIENT LANDMARKS

"I bought me a Masonic Manual today," announced the
Very New Master Mason
to the Old Past Master. "Into what strange paths I am about to venture I
don't know, but I am going to try..." rather shyly..."to learn some of
the
work.

"That is very commendable" agreed the Old Past Master. "You will
find it a
fascinating study."

"But there are a lot of things in it I don't understand," went on the
Very
New Master Mason. "For instance, in the charge to a Master Mason the Master
says, 'the ancient landmarks of the order, committed to your care, you are
carefully to preserve and never suffer them to be infringed' and so on. But
nowhere can I find any explanation of just what the ancient landmarks are!"

"Well, that is a problem, isn't it?" smiled the Old Past Master.
"If you
will get Mackey's Jurisprudence you will find a list of twenty five, Roscoe
Pound has a list of seven in his book of the same name, Brother Joseph Fort
Newton considers five is the number and several Grand Lodges have lists up
to fifty or sixty!"

"Do you mean to say there are no universally known and understood list of
ancient landmarks?" demanded the Very New Master Mason.

"I do. There is no such list."

"But... but... but then how can we 'carefully preserve them' and 'never
suffer them to be infringed?'"

"Well, it really isn't as difficult as it sounds!" smiled the Old Past
Master. "There is none, or hardly any, disagreement among Masonic
authorities on the fundamental Masonic law. The ancient usages and customs
of the fraternity are the same the world over and generally recognized as
such by all Grand Bodies. But a 'landmark' is something that cannot be
changed, according to our understanding of it. Therefore, different
authorities have thought differently about our ancient usages and customs,
some saying that such and thus, while ancient and honorable, is not a
landmark, and therefore can be changed, while others hold that the same
custom is a landmark and cannot be changed.

"The old manuscripts which give us so much light on our Masonic forbears;
the Regius, the Harleian; the Antiquity, etc., have various charges, rules,
regulations and laws. These are all very old, yet many of them could hardly
be considered a landmark; for instance, one such old regulation forbids
Masons to indulge in games of chance except at Christmas! That would hardly
do for a Masonic landmark, would it? So just because a rule or custom is
old does not make it, per se, a landmark.

"On the other hand, much that is beautiful in our fraternity is new; that
is, it is less than three and often less than two hundred years old. There
was no Grand Lodge before 1717, and Masonry was not divided in three
degrees at that time, I believe. Yet many authorities consider the division
of the work into three degrees as a landmark.

"So where doctors disagree, only the patient can decide!"

"There are a certain body of laws, usages and customs which are universally
recognized and regarded. From these, different authorities select certain
ones which in their judgment are landmarks. Other authorities say 'no,
thus and such is a law, statute, rule, judgment, agreement or custom of
the fraternity but isn't a landmark!' Brother Shepard has just brought out
a book on the subject which gives the ideas of many authorities, writers
and Grand Lodges. What strikes me on reading it, is not the difference in
the lists of what are called landmarks, but the fact that all so well agree
as to what is fundamental in Masonry!

"Now it is a fact that we agree that the 'ancient landmarks' are fixed and
unalterable. It is also a fact that Masons themselves have altered their
own unalterable landmarks! The very fact that Grand Lodges were invented,
or discovered, or created, is a change in an old, old custom, made
necessary by change in times and people. The issuing of diplomas was a
change; for ancient brethren had only the 'Mason word' to prove themselves
Master. We do not prepare a man to be made a Mason as was done two
centuries ago, nor is our ritual the same, nor our obligation the same;
antiquarians have even discovered where parts of our obligations came from,
and it was not from a Masonic source that all of them were derived!

"But let not your heart be troubled! Masonry herself says of herself that
she is a progressive science. How can she progress and stand still? Brother
A. S. McBride than whom no more spiritually minded or common-sense writer
ever spread Masonry before the Craft for their better understanding, asks
the literal-minded Mason who says nothing can be changed in Masonry, why
not work in Hebrew, since Solomon and his workman used that tongue? And
does Masonry suffer because the English of today is not the English of the
17th century?

"I personally believe that the ancient landmarks which cannot suffer change
are few in number; a belief in Deity, a belief in a future life, a book of
Law on the altar, a secret mode of recognition, that only men, of good
character, can be made Masons; these and one or two more seems to me to be
real landmarks. Other landmarks so prescribed seem to me... and to many
deeper Masonic students... to be common law, custom, usage, rather than
landmarks.

"But I only think these things. I do not try to convince any one I am
right, for those who decide have authority and scholarship behind them. I
follow where they lead. Bit Masonry teaches a man to think, and so I do her
no injury if I do think. And if my Grand Lodge says forty-seven laws are
landmarks, I keep them like Kipling's Mason 'to a hair.' That I choose to
disagree with my Grand Lodge in my heart doesn't make me a law-breaker;
only a minority. And there is no harm in being a minority as long as one
conforms!

"Therefore, read your manual, learn your ritual, consult your Grand Lodge
records, and abide by the laws, resolutions and edicts you have sworn to
uphold. And when you have done that, tolerant charitable Masonry says to
you 'my brother, having done as you pledged you would, you may now think
whatever you want is right!'"

This site is not an official site of any recognized Masonic body in the United
States or elsewhere.
It is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily reflect the views
or opinion
of Freemasonry, nor webmaster nor those of any
other regular Masonic body other than those stated.